I love the "drink um under the table" comment. Aint that the truth! Both my kids were born in Vail. My son runs, in his words, "to get energy". So far, going back to Colorado I'm still good with the elevation. Having flatlanders come visit was one of the best parts about living there. I did a lot of backpacking there. When guys from back home would come out theyd be dying, called me a Billy goat for climbing 14ers with seemingly no effort, compared to them. I was only a mediocre hiker. I tried to tell them there were guys in Colorado that ran 14ers, and were done before we even started up, they didn't believe it, until they saw it lol.
One of the last hikes I did was holy cross, with my brother and one of his friends. We made it a 3 day deal. Packed in and camped at the base, day 2 kill the 14er without a load lol, day 3 hike out. They were literally dying, I thought they wouldn't make it haha. Meanwhile there were guys packing in margarita machines and full bbq grills then trail running the climb.